Loud Neighbors
by kimihime97
Summary: Izaya's annoyed with Shizuo and his boyfriend next door, who are annoyingly loud and cute and in love, until suddenly they aren't. Frankly, Izaya's worried. Mentions of sex.


**"You and your partner next door are loud and cute and it's really annoying and keeps me up so i'm a total jerk about it until suddenly it's silent for days, then weeks and holy crap, you haven't smiled in weeks are you okay" au**

It had started off innocent enough. Their apartments were right next to each other, separated by thin walls. Izaya had moved in first, giddy to have a place of his own after having to share a dorm all throughout college. They were spacey apartments, which he liked, but the walls were just...a little too thin. That's how he knew when he had new neighbors only a few weeks later.

They couldn't have been much older than him, really. One was a darker skinned guy who wore glasses and was, for the most part, pretty nice. Izaya had learned his name was Tom and he liked him, mostly. The other one, the one who lived with Tom was...a different story. He was a taller guy, blond and a little on the stand-offish side. Izaya learned his name from Tom; Shizuo Heiwajima.

They were lovers, Tom and Shizuo. Not that Izaya cared much; if it made them happy then great for them. But...they were _loud_. Maybe they didn't mean to be, but they were. Izaya always heard them laughing, usually at god awful hours in the morning when he knew they were both getting ready for work. Usually the booming laughter, no doubt Shizuo's, startled Izaya out of sleep. Izaya would sighed and close his eyes, listening to the laughter and the chuckling from the other side of the wall. It only lasted for a short while anyways, because Tom and Shizuo left for work only a half hour after they got up.

Early morning laughter melded into late night talking, and usually, late night sex. That was where Izaya let himself be a little irritated. If it wasn't the sound of their bed lightly knocking against the wall, it was Shizuo's gasps and moans and _screams_ that kept Izaya wide awake.

 _It's only been a few weeks, it'll die down_. he reasoned with himself.

A few weeks turned into two months. Izaya had grown used to the early morning talking that woke him up; he'd just stay up and sourly start on his work on his computer a good three hours earlier than normal. The late night talking just turned into Izaya turning up his TV really loud, so loud that he was sure other neighbors would file a complaint. The sex...

The sex was a different matter. Izaya wasn't irritated that _they_ were having sex. No...he was irritated that _he wasn't_ having sex. He hadn't dated since college, didn't have time or the patience after his last fling with his ex, Namie. It'd been a good few months since he had last had sex, and hearing Shizuo moaning and groaning...

Izaya would never mention to Tom that he had a slight attraction to the way his boyfriend sounded in bed. That was a secret he'd keep to himself.

On this particular Saturday, Izaya was just returning from the store. He fumbled with his keys, trying not to drop his bags of groceries, when the door not too far to his right swing open. Shizuo stepped out, dressed in blue jeans and a casual gray sweater. He paused when he saw Izaya, offering up what could only pass as an awkward smile. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," Izaya nodded, finally finding the right key. "Going out?"

"Just running a few errands before it gets dark," Shizuo nodded.

Izaya nodded again and smirked a bit at him. "Try not to exhausted yourself, ne? I'm sure Tom-San wouldn't want you to be too tired for your nightly activities."

The blond man stiffened, a hint of a blush spreading through his cheeks. He huffed and arched an eyebrow at him. "That's none of your business."

Izaya inserted his key into the lock, turning it and hearing it click. "Well, when you two _heathens_ keep me up all hours of the night, I think it becomes my business."

Shizuo blinked and seemed to flush brighter. "Then don't listen!"

"As if I have a _choice_ ," Izaya scoffed as he looked back at him sourly. "Honestly, you two are ridiculous-"

"Wait, Shizuo!" The door flung open again and Tom stumbled out. He blinked, obviously not expecting Shizuo to be right outside the door. He glanced at Izaya and then smiled. "Oh, hey, Orihara. Something wrong?"

"Not at all," Izaya assured, waving his free hand. "I was just telling Shizu-Chan about a great sale at the supermarket. You should check it out if you have time."

Shizuo shot Izaya a furious look from over Tom's shoulder, but the other man seemed oblivious. Tom grinned a little and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Thanks, we'll do that. Need help carrying anything in?"

"No, I'm a big boy," Izaya assured. He looked back at Shizuo, smiling again. "Have a good day, Shizu-Chan."

"It's _Shizuo_."

Izaya was just a little smug when no sex was heard that night. Smug, but slightly disappointed. If anything, the sex noises died down, but the annoying...lovey noises picked up. They laughed a lot more, louder than before. Sometimes they had friends come over and those were the nights when Izaya could have sworn he would go crazy.

That was only because he had no friends to invite over. He had no one to be loud and obnoxious with. He had himself, his computer and his phone. The most boring of company, but what good were actual people to him?

With the growth in annoyingly cute laughter also came the annoyingly cute (sickening) talking that carried on well into the night. Izaya could never exactly make out what was being said, but the muffled voices were soft and somehow always sounded sincere.

Sitting in the loneliness of his own bed, Izaya would admit that he was more than a little jealous. So, his irritation with the two grew, and the comments wouldn't stop whenever he saw Shizuo.

"Your boyfriend laughs like a hyena." Izaya had said one day as he was leaving his apartment, catching Shizuo just as the blond was going inside.

Shizuo stopped and frowned, hand on the door knob. "Excuse me?"

"Tom," Izaya clarified as he shoved his keys in his pocket. "He sounds like a hyena when he laughs."

"Wow," Shizuo rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Rude, but whatever."

"Also, some people have to sleep," Izaya added as he turned and started walking away. "Try not to talk so loudly at night."

"Fuck you!" Shizuo sounded angry, but when Izaya walked past him and Tom later on his way back in, Shizuo was smiling. That smile was warm and gentle...and Izaya had to admit that it was endearing.

It annoyed him.

"One of you sings in the shower, and it's really distracting." Izaya wasn't even sure why that had come out the second he had run into Shizuo at the supermarket.

Shizuo paused and frowned, setting down a box of cereal on a shelf. "Do you just live to be bitter?"

"Not really, no," Izaya shrugged, smirking a bit. "But really, I do a lot of work during the day. It's a little distracting when one of you is belting out random songs in the shower. How could I get any work done?"

"Uh, ear phones?" Shizuo offered as he crossed his arms, his eye brow twitching in irritation.

The raven scoffed back at him. "Shizu-Chan, a man in my lien of work can't use ear phones. What if my phone rings and I don't hear it?"

"Then I don't know what the fuck to tell you," Shizuo snapped. His anger died down in a second, though, a smile forming on his lips.

For a split second, Izaya was sure that the smile was directed at him. However, Tom stepped around him from behind, coming up to take Shizuo's hand. He smiled at Izaya, head tilting to the side. "Hey, Orihara. What's up?"

"Ah, nothing," Izaya stuffed his hands into his pockets, trying to ignore the urge to glare at their interlocked hands. He averted his gaze, looking around. "I was just telling Shizu-Chan that was enjoying whichever one of you was singing in the shower this morning."

Tom blinked and laughed, a sound that was deep and strong. "Oh, that was him. Cute, right?"

" _Tom_ ," Shizuo whined, rolling his eyes.

Izaya chuckled, a sound that was no where near Tom's. "Cute indeed. Anyways, I have to go meet someone. I'll see you two around."

The tormenting went on for another two months. Yes, Izaya knew that his bitter behavior was uncalled for. He very easily could have ignored whatever noises there were, but he didn't. He didn't like it, really. He didn't like that he was stuck alone in bed while his heathen neighbors were having fun being in love.

So he was a bad person, big deal.

One night, though, the noises were different. Izaya hadn't heard it at first, having actually had ear phones in to listen to a playlist his sisters had sent to him. When he had paused the music to check the time, a thud from next door nearly startled him off his couch. He frowned and set his phone down, listening.

They were yelling, the two lovers. Izaya didn't know what about, but he wished he did. He couldn't make out parts of the argument, only the loud bits. Shizuo had definitely yelled, "Fuck you" and Tom had definitely yelled, "I'm done" at some point. As suddenly as the yelling had seemed to start, it stopped after the slamming of a door.

There were no noises after that. There were no hushed voices late at night, no loud laughing in the morning for days. Izaya wasn't used to this brand of quiet, was worried. He finally ran into Shizuo in the hall, though the blond looked terrible. He had bags under his eyes, like he hadn't slept, and he didn't look like he'd showered recently.

"Has your boyfriend stopped reminding you to bathe?" Izaya had, in all honesty, meant it as a joke.

Shizuo stiffened, a hand clenching into a fist at his side. "Don't have one. Fuck off, Orihara."

Shizuo had walked away after that, leaving a stunned Izaya behind in the hall way.

The silence from next door stretched on. Tom had eventually come to get his stuff, but Shizuo had been gone, so there were no fights. The nights were the quietest. Izaya would lay there listening, silently praying that each small creak he heard from next door was Tom, finally coming back and picking up from where he had left off with Shizuo. The creaks were just Shizuo shifting in bed, though, and Izaya would eventually drift into an uncomfortable sleep.

Each time he saw Shizuo, it was the same. The blond was tired, always tired, and hissed at everyone that got too close to him. Izaya had the nagging suspicion that Shizuo wasn't eating well, either, and he had to wonder why he cared so much.

What really bothered him, though, was that Shizuo never smiled. Izaya was used to seeing the blond smile, usually when Tom would appear and make him feel better. But Tom wasn't there now. Shizuo wasn't smiling.

That realization hit him for what felt like the tenth time that day. He closed his laptop and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Lately, Shizuo hadn't left his apartment. Izaya kept hoping he'd run into him, even if for a second. He never came out, though, and the girl, Erika, who lived just down the hall had told him that she hadn't seen him out, either.

He pushed away from his computer desk and walked across the room, opening his front door and walking to Shizuo's. He knocked once, glancing down at all the mail that had accumulated on the floor in front of the other's door. He made a face and sighed, looking back at the door. A silent minute passed by before he frowned and knocked again, louder. "Shizu-Chan."

There was no reply, no sound from inside. Izaya let out an annoyed sigh and knocked again. "Oi, you big brute, I know you're in there." He waited and crossed his arms. "I'll keep knocking until you answer the door."

There was another silence, but he heard a slight shuffle from the other side of the door. A small smirk tugged at his lips and he kicked the door, hard and loud. "I'll keep talking out here and I'll get louder. Shizu-Chan! Shizu-Chaaaannnn! Open up!" He kicked the door again. "Shizu-Chaaaaa-"

"Fucking asshole," The door flung open, Shizuo glaring at him from the darkness of his apartment.

Izaya blinked and smiled again, arching an eyebrow. He tried to ignore the way Shizuo looked, so tired and so frail and so...not...Shizuo. He cleared his throat. "Well, you _are_ alive after all."

Shizuo rolled his eyes, bringing a hand up to run though his hair. "If you came here to fucking bug me then get lost."

Izaya shook his head, holding up his hands in defense. "No, no...I came to invite Shizu-Chan over for dinner."

A silence passed between them, and Izaya swore that he was hating silence more and more every day.

Shizuo finally looked confused, maybe slightly irritated. "What?"

"Dinner." Izaya repeated slowly, smiling a bit. "It's usually the third meal of the day, typically eaten in the evening?"

"I know what dinner is," Shizuo hissed, rolling his eyes. "Why are you inviting me over?"

The raven shrugged. "I want to."

"For what?" The other snapped, clearly confused.

Izaya made a face, biting the inside of his cheek. He wasn't used to this. He had never been the one to ask others out. He sucked in a deep breath before he shrugged again. "Because I...I'm worried. About you, I mean..." He trailed off for a second before he felt his own face heating up. Which wasn't supposed to happen. "You don't...smile anymore."

"And you think you can make me?" Shizuo didn't sound angry this time around. He sounded confused, yes, but thoughtful and...maybe a little hopeful?

Izaya ran a hand through his hair, taking a small step back as he gestured to his open apartment door. "Why don't we find out?"

Izaya had nearly fallen over when Shizuo agreed.

Whatever Tom had done, Izaya was going to fix it. He didn't like all the silence, after all.

 **Review?**


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